English for Engineering Students

3.2Answerthe questionson the text.

1.What can you do using remote control?

2.How does a remote control work?

3.What consumer IR devices can work with remote controls?

4.How do modern remotes communicate with their respective devices?

5.What batteries do remote controls need?

6.How are modern remote controls used?

7.Is a remote control a useful device? Prove your answer.

3.3Read paragraph 6 again and complete the gaps to show how a remote control works.

1.You press a key.

2.… .

3.A signal is sent to a microchip.

4.… .

5.These pulses switch on the LED.

6.… .

3.4Match the wordsto make expressions. Translate them.

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3.5 Match the wordswith similarmeaning.

3.6 Match the wordswith opposite meaning.

3.7 Translate the following word-groups.

Teletext system, line-of-sight distance, remote control technology, consumer electronics, brand television remote control, light-emitting diode, pulse switch, light beam, radio control, a remote controlled model aeroplane.

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Text 4

HACKERS

The word “hacker” is derived from the verb “to hack through” that means “to break through”. The word combines two meanings: one negative – “hacker”, and the other – positive and is regarded as “master” or “expert”. While speaking about computers the verb “to hack” stands for two operations – to crack the system or to repair it. The idea of these both actions is the same – the mode, the computer and its programs work in.

The first hackers were the students of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They were interested in creating innovative, stylistic, and technically clever circuits. During the spring of 1959 a new course was offered at MIT – a freshman programming class. Instead of creating a better circuit, hackers began to create a faster and more efficient program – with the least number of lines of code. Soon they formed a group and worked out the first set of hacker’s rules called the “Hacker’s Ethics”. The members of this group were engaged in writing and exchanging new programs and perfecting the hardware. They worked at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence laboratory and over the years introduced many innovations: LIFE – a game about survival; LISP – a new kind of programming language; the first computer chess game; the CAVE – the first computer adventure and SPACEWAR – the first video game.

There are four generations of hackers in the history of computer revolution. Each generation made its contribution to computer technology.

The first generation hackers came into being in the late 1960s – the early 1970s. They were university students of computer science departments. Using the time-sharing mode these hackers converted general-purpose computers (mainframes) into virtual personal ones.

The second generation hackers refer to the late 1970s. Their names are associated with the invention and production of personal computers. Following the Hacker’s Ethics they opposed the commercialism of the Internet by creating programs and making them available to everybody, the so-called “freeware” or “shareware”.

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The third generation hackers appeared in the early 1990s. They created a lot of educational, application, and video games and programs for personal computers.

The present generation of hackers transformed the military Arpanet into a total digital world called the Internet.

But in the late 1990s the word ‘hacker’ began to associate with the word ‘cracker”. Today it refers to the people who intentionally crack the access control and penetrate into other people’s computers in unauthorized ways. Such hackers read private e-mails, steal confidential information, misappropriate and infect the computer programs. They cause great damage to economics, business, banking, and many other aspects of people’s relations. Moreover, it is unsettling to know that a great deal of computer crimes go undetected and a lot of computer criminals remain uncaught.

4.1Choose a suitable title for the text.

1.Hackers and their role in information technology.

2.The four generations of hackers.

3.Computer revolution.

4.2Readand translate the derivatives.

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4.3 Match the expressionswith their Russian equivalents.

4.5 Match the wordswith similarmeaning.

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4.6 Match the wordswith opposite meaning.

4.7Decide if the statements are true or false.

1.Modern hackers are experts in repairing computers.

2.The first generation hackers created the Internet.

3.Creation, use and spreading harmful programs for PCs is a criminal offence.

4.The stylistic circuits of modern computers are the same as in 1960s.

5.Hackers have played an important role in the history of computer revolution.

6.The students of the first freshman programming class started with creating a better circuit.

7.The third generation hackers appeared in the early 1980s and they developed a lot of educational programs.

8.The first video game was introduced in the early1960s.

9.Using the time-sharing mode the hackers transformed virtual PCs into general-purpose computers.

10.From the very beginning the aim of hackers was to steal private information.

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4.8Answerthe questionson the text.

1.What is the origin of the word “hacker”?

2.What does the verb “to hack” mean?

3.What were the first hackers interested in?

4.How many generations of hackers are there in the history of computer revolution?

5.Did every generation contribute to computer technology? How?

6.What was the “Hacker’s Ethic”?

7.How do modern hackers cause damage to some aspects of people’s relations?

8.Is it possible to detect and punish computer criminals?

Text 5

SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

Superconductivity is a phenomenon observed in several metals and ceramic materials. When these materials are cooled to temperatures ranging from near absolute zero (0 degrees Kelvin, –273 degrees Celsius) to liquid nitrogen temperatures (77K, –196 C), their electrical resistance drops with a jump down to zero.

Superconductivity was once thought to be physically impossible. But in 1911 it was discovered by a Dutch physicist K.Onnes. He found the electrical resistivity of a mercury wire to disappear suddenly when cooled below a temperature of 4 Kelvin (–269 C). He also discovered that a superconducting material can be returned to its normal state either by passing a sufficiently large current through it or by applying a sufficiently strong magnetic field to it.

The temperature at which electrical resistance is zero is called the critical temperature and this temperature is a characteristic of such materials as zinc, mercury, tin and aluminium. Superconductivity can also occur in various metallic alloys and some heavily-doped semiconductors. Superconductivity does not occur in noble metals like gold and silver. The ceramic critical temperature is much higher than metal one. The value of the critical temperature is dependent on the current density and the magnetic field.

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5.3 Choose the equivalents to theRussian words.

5.4 Choose the appropriate wordand fill in the blank with it.

3.Superconductivity does not … in noble metals such as gold and silver.

4.If the large current … through the superconductor it returns to its normal state.

5.The value of critical temperature depends on the … density and the magnetic field.

8.Scientists try to find materials which can … superconductors at room temperature.

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5.5Find the words in the text that correspond to the following definitions.

1.the ability of a substance to prevent electricity from passing through it (para 1)

2.the overall physical condition of something (para 2)

3.to cause to have an effect, to use (para 2)

4.metal made by melting and mixing two or more metals (para 3)

5.to fail to keep or hold something wanted or valued (para 4)

6.a force that pulls something to something else (para 4)

7.to have or experience problems, difficulties (para 5)

5.6Translate the following wordcombinations.

1.liquid nitrogen temperatures

2.sufficiently large current

3.magnetic field application

4.superconductivitytheorydevelopment

5.useful superconductors quality

6.heavily-doped semiconductors

7.ceramic critical temperatures

8.critical temperature value

9.negatively-charged electron

10.strong electron interaction

11.high current density

5.7Fill inthe blanks with the following words.

possible discovery lose how superconductors production unbelievable continue extremely

In 1987 American physicist Paul Chu informed about sensational (1) ...

he and his colleagues produced superconductivity at an 2 (...) before temperature 98K in a special ceramic material. At once in all leading laboratories throughout the world (3) … of critical temperature 100K and higher (that is, above the boiling temperature of liquid nitrogen) were obtained. Thus, potential technical uses of high temperature

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